Memento Vivere! You're gonna live Bluey!
by DAORON
Summary: When waking up as the FemC in persona 3, "Minako" knows she has to at least try to stop the Protagonist's demise. Not to mention finding out what happened to her best friend. And most importantly, beat Ikutsuki in a pun war, before he bites the dust.
1. Chapter 1

"~Fear's awake, anger beats loud~"

"~Face reality~"

"~Never beat charity~"

"~The enemy you're fighting~"

"~Covers all society (Damn right)~"

The speakers inside my little studio blared through the room, making it impossible for me to hear my sewing machine. And that thing was really loud in of itself because it was an older model than the one I usually used. I accidentally broke the newer machine by knocking it from the table. I had to borrow this one from my grandma, who always supported my hobby of sewing and stitching. Though, she did question my fascination with cosplaying and video games in general.

Well, what can I say? We all have our little quirks and skeletons in our closet. Don't worry. Mine is a fake one. I needed it for a costume when I went to an event overseas. It actually got me into trouble at the airport. The funny part is, I originally wanted to go for a character that carried weapons with her but decided against it after remembering just how many cosplayers got into trouble with the police. And still, the security thought for a second I was carrying a real skeleton in my bag.

Old times aside, currently I was working on my newest outfit. Actually, I had finished this particular outfit about a week ago. It was just when I tried it on today I noticed that the Gekkoukan emblem was pretty loose. Only by lightly plucking at it, the symbol came off.

Sewing it back on was five minutes work. Usually, I would use thread and needle, but I was feeling lazy at that moment. Plus I didn't want it to come off again accidentally.

As it must have been made evident by the comment about the Gekkoukan emblem, I was working on a cosplay outfit for Persona 3. Compared to some of the other stuff I worked on, recreating a school uniform was reasonably straightforward. I have had more trouble recreating the red SEES armband with the white letters.

Getting the work done didn't take very long at all. I mean, it was just the emblem. I took the vest away from my sewing machine and inspected my work quickly, making sure the thing wouldn't get off again. Seeing as it held this time, I nodded satisfied and put the thing immediately on. Despite knowing all of my sizes inside out, I did double check if the thing sat right with my body. Sometimes I did make mistakes when measuring the cloth before cutting it. And other times I just forgot that I was still growing in size. Not by much nowadays, but it even happened and would continue to do so for one or two years. I still have my very first costume hanging inside my wardrobe. Just looking at it makes me do a double take because of how small it was.

Now with me wearing my complete cosplay set, I stood in front of the mirror and checked myself out. I wasn't a supermodel by any stretch of the imagination, and the uniform didn't make my body look good in any way or fashion, but when it came to the outfit itself, it was perfect. The SEES armband was holding, the red ribbon sat perfectly, and there was nothing fallen off my clothes anymore. I had a belt with a fake gun inside the holster strapped around me. The gun was a toy I bought and spray painted it with silver color. The long white socks felt a little weird and would take some getting used to.

I dyed my hair brunette earlier today and tied it up to a ponytail. I had a few hairclips attached to the side of my head so that they would form the Roman numeral XXII. I somehow managed to screw it up the first time and form IIXX. Yeah, embarrassing.

But now everything was alright. I grinned and struck a couple of poses in front of the mirror. It was during that time that I noticed that something fundamental was missing. The headphones! I slapped myself on the forehead really hard, when I remembered I had yet to put on the headphones and the MP3 of course! Quickly walking back to my work desk, I produced both items out of one of my drawers. Both the model of the MP3 and the model of the headphones weren't regularly produced anymore. I had to order both from the internet. It was easy enough to find the things I wanted, but getting the headphones in the right color had taken me surprisingly long. I had to order them from an official cosplay website, which did make a small dent in my wallet. Generally, I avoid those websites, because of how they tend to overprice everything.

Having the headphones strapped around my neck, I once again stood in front of the mirror. Now it was perfect! Grinning, I took out the plastic toy gun and held it against my head.

"Orpheus!" I proclaimed, making my best impression of the female protagonist in the portable version of Persona 3. Of course, when I pulled the trigger, I got hit by a small pellet. I must have forgotten to take those out. The pellet uselessly fell to the ground, after I took the gun off my head. I let out a childish giggle at my own antics and put the plastic toy back into the holster.

"I wish I had red eyes…" I lamented. For the record, I was wearing colored lenses. My usual eye color was a dull brown. I wore lenses quite frequently, even though on photos it was hard to make out someone's eye color unless it was taken up close. Speaking of eyes, they noticed something in the corner of my vision, namely the plastic naginata my dad helped me make a couple of years ago. It had a relatively simple design: black staff, silver, half-moon shaped blade and a couple of dozens very thin red threads glued to the end point of the staff, just to have some sort of decoration on it.

I took the weapon into both hands and spun a circle with it in front of the mirror. It was one of many weapon imitations I owned, and it showed. The color was getting off at some parts, and a piece of the blade part was missing, due to a little mishap on my part. I had long planned to make a new one, but, as well as life in general, had put this project behind time and time again.

I took on the battle stands of the female protagonist, which felt just a tad bit awkward, primarily since I was inside such a confined space. I'm not even sure if you're supposed to hold a naginata like that, but it wasn't like I needed to learn how to use a weapon. It was just for posing and maybe swinging it around a couple of times.

I was about to put this thing away when all of a sudden I felt someone tapping on my shoulder. I yelped in surprise, dropped my weapon and spun around. It was a good thing I dropped it because otherwise, I would have hit the sides of my friend, who surprisingly stood in my room, looking unimpressed.

I quickly turned off the music, before addressing my friend directly. "How the heck did you get in here?!" I asked.

She kept her unimpressed expression when answering. "You left the door open. Again."

"Oh…. oops." I bit my lip in shame when she gave me this little tidbit of information. It had become a bad habit of mine that when I returned home, I would merely shove the door, thinking I would have put enough force behind it so that it would close itself. Since I also always headed upstairs as soon as I got home, I am never surprised when I don't hear the sound of the door shutting behind me.

My friend rolled her eyes and looked at my new outfit with interest. "Wow, it looks like the real deal," she commented. "Just like in the game. I'm impressed."

"Hehe, thanks," I giggled. "How are you doing? I haven't heard from you in almost a week. And the event starts tomorrow!" I scolded her. "You haven't even tried out your uniform once."

She in return looked to the side, a bit of guilt appearing on her face.

"Sorry. I haven't been there for three days, and on the last two I have been only along for the ride," she explained. Once again I bit my lip, my chest tightening a little bit from guilt. The words she had just spoken were probably a bit confusing to the average person, but since I was aware of the condition she had, I knew exactly what she meant.

"I guess…" I started but was interrupted.

"She wanted to get some stuff done since I had been in charge for so long," she explained to me. "My freezer is full of chocolate ice cream again," she gave me a wry smile, and I couldn't help but smile back.

"You know, if you have trouble eating all of it, I am here to help."

"You're always there to help when food is involved," she retorted, causing me to laugh.

"You know what they say: love goes through the stomach."

She just rolled her eyes at the comment. I grinned cheekily, happily ready to admit that I am a bit of a glutton, especially when someone else was treating me.

"Anyway," I clapped my hands together and walked to my wardrobe. "I got your outfit right here," I proclaimed and produced the female uniform of the Yasogami High School from Persona 4. This one had been even easier to recreate than the Gekkoukan one since the summer uniform was simply the same one just without the vest. I couldn't help myself though and recreated the jacket as well.

"Go on, Miss President," I said, already referring to the character she would be cosplaying as. "The students are waiting for your speech for winning the election. And you can't possibly hold a speech while wearing those rags!" I spoke in an overdramatic fashion while motioning over the clothes my friend was wearing. Once again she rolled her eyes and quickly changed into the uniform. When she was done, I motioned for her to step in front of the mirror so that I could check her out from top to bottom.

"Does it sit well?" I asked.

"Very," she nodded, sounding surprised. "This is a lot more comfortable than the last uniform I wore." She was probably referring to the uniform she had to wear when she went to a boarding school in Japan for one year. Man, she was so lucky to be able to go there! I couldn't since neither did I have the money, nor the opportunity. And that's not to mention how difficult it is for me to learn a new language.

"That's good to hear," I replied. "Oh. Hold still for a sec. Looks like I overlooked a loose threat."

Producing a pair of scissors, I quickly dealt with the little offender hanging down from the skirt. I looked at the outfit one more time, before fully allowing my friend to check herself out in the mirror. She turned her upper body a couple of times and sometimes pulled on her clothes. I asked if anything was wrong, but she assured me that everything was fine.

"Wow, I almost look like a Japanese school girl," she eventually commented and turned around. "I actually don't want to take these off. What kind of fabric are you using?"

"The same as always," I replied with a shrug. "So, wanna let me do your hair now? Or do you want to wait 'till tomorrow?"

She thought for a couple of seconds, before answering. "Let's do it now. That way we will have more time and less stress tomorrow."

"Good point," I replied, and the two of us made our way to the bathroom. I took the chair from my room with me, so my friend didn't need to sit down on the toilet. We chatted with each other about trivial things, while I was busy doing her hair. I told her how my dad had been really grumpy since he had to take the night shift for three weeks straight. She told me about how last week a bird flew into her house and snatched a small spoon from the kitchen table and flew off with it. I almost accidentally painted her face silver. I was laughing so hard.

"Shade is really looking forward to tomorrow," she eventually said out of the blue.

"Really?" I asked though I wasn't particularly surprised. Shade had really enjoyed herself the last time I took her with me to a manga event, where we dressed up as characters from RWBY. I still had the scythe lying around somewhere.

"Will you two switch it up every day or…?"

"We made a timetable of sorts. I walk a couple of hours. She walks a couple of hours. There's the chance that we might need your help, in case one of us is out of commission, so to speak."

It took me a second to understand what she meant, and I couldn't help but blush. Luckily she was looking down and not in the mirror, so my friend didn't notice. She had been talking about their trigger. Specifically, she wanted me to use their trigger, in case they weren't able to switch up on their own. To this day, I don't really understand how that works. They told me that their condition was different for everyone. I looked it up a couple of times and learned a surprising lot. At the same time, I won't be able to look at the movie "Split" the same way ever again.

"Can do," I eventually replied. "How far are you in Persona 3?" I decided to change the subject.

"I beat the bosses that changed their weaknesses all the time," she replied, referring to the Emperor and the Empress Arcana Shadows. I loaned her my copies of Persona 3 and 4, but from what I got so far she had only played the third installment of the series.

"Ya know, I was thinking 'bout going as Mitsuru next time. But I'd have to cut my hair for that one."

"Hmm, Mitsuru, huh?" I mused. "Her outfit is easy enough to recreate. I think you can even buy half the stuff she's wearing in a regular shop. But I don't have a rapier replica on hand. I know the weapon shop in the city sells dull swords. Ah, but I think I need a license to get anything bigger than a pocket knife."

"Whoa, whoa, easy there, Miss Wild Card. It was just a thought. And hey, careful where you put the dye!"

"Oh, whoops! Sorry!" I accidentally painted a little bit of her neck silver during my absentmindedness. I quickly grabbed a rag, poured water over it in the sink and rubbed the color off, before it could dry.

The entire process took about thirty minutes because the girl just had so much hair! Don't get me wrong, it fits, seeing as she was going to dress up as Labrys, not in her robot form, but in her human one. Sadly due to circumstances outside of my control, I had to cut short some resources and only make the Yasogami High uniform.

Anyway, after I was finally done, the two of them went into my room and talked about how we would organize things. Since parking would get hilariously expensive, we decided to take the bus and hop out at the train station, from which we would naturally take the train to our destination. We double checked the timetables on our phones and when all was said and done she had to go home already because neither of us had even started packing.

However before she went away, I had two, technically three more things to give her. First were two sets of colored contacts, red and yellow respectively. Then there was the replica ax, which looked a lot, but not entirely like Labrys' ax. It had the boosters attached to it, but a lot of details were missing, like the wires for example. Really, it just looked like an oddly two-handed ax. To make transportation more manageable, the staff could be taken apart in the middle, and the ax part detached. It had been a lot of work, let me tell you that. After saying our goodbyes, I went back to my room, fully intending on preparing for tomorrow.

Little did I know that that particular day would be the last one the two of us would see each other for a long time.

* * *

The world was dark and green. The streets were empty, pools of blood had formed in places where the road had slightly given in. There was even blood coming out of the various buildings, making it seem like they were wounded. The moon was shining brightly from the night sky, tainting the green world in a slightly yellow color, at least in the places where the reflected rays of sunshine could reach. Pure black coffins could be seen standing on the sidewalks and a few on the streets. They had some sort of red outlining on the edges.

A lone figure could be seen walking through the seemingly empty streets. Although calling what she did "walking" was rather generous. Stumbling or slouching were perhaps better terms in this case. The human girl's eyes were unfocused and half closed. One would assume she was sleepwalking. Heavy breaths escaped her mouth every so often, but she continued walking.

The female was wearing the standard Gekkoukan High Female Uniform, which usually was a school in this city. However currently, it could be seen in the distance as a massive skyscraper, towering every other building in town. Incidentally, the girl appeared to be headed in the direction of the strange tower. The tower was weird because at least from the outside it looked like an amalgamation of buildings that someone intertwined, melted and then stacked on top of each other in this precise order. There was even blood falling down from a few places, like a waterfall.

Almost even stranger than the destination of the girl, she herself appeared to be carrying weapons with her. In her right hand, she was holding a naginata, an ancient weapon that hadn't been used in centuries, outside of clubs at least. The other weapon was a more modern one: a silver gun, strapped inside a holster.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhh…" the girl did her best impersonation of a zombie, as she took a corner and continued on. If there had been other people around, they would have been disturbed by the sight alone. But there weren't other people around, just coffins.

Or at least that was the impression. The girl halted in her steps, when a nearby trashcan seemingly fell over on its own, spilling the contents onto the street as a result. The girl looked over and tilted her head. If it weren't for the almost lifeless expression, one would have thought she was confused. But like this, even the girl herself wouldn't have been able to tell.

Whether she was confused or not didn't matter, however, as where the trashcan used to stand was now a formless black puddle. The puddle slowly slouched in the direction of the girl like a snail, only faster. Black arms slowly grew out of the puddle, and a blue mask appeared from underneath and took a position on the top. The mask had a neutral or maybe slightly sad expression engraved on it. Someone even had gone through the length to form a partially convincing nose.

The girl reacted as the masked mass had passed a certain distance. She straightened out her back, took her naginata in both hands and took on a battle stands. Her body language said that she was ready for action. However, the expression on her face remained unchanged, almost like she was indeed a zombie. Or perhaps a robot?

Whatever the case, the formless mass increased its pace and waved wildly with its arms. The girl answered by swinging her weapon down. The blade missed its target and hit the road instead, causing a loud "clang" to echo through the empty streets. Meanwhile, the mass had come close enough to hit the girl's legs with its arms. Surprisingly the arms were razor sharp and cut through the girl's skin. The cuts weren't deep, luckily, but blood was coming out nonetheless. Stumbling backward, the brunette dropped her melee weapon and almost tripped over the curbstone.

She managed to catch herself, but already her opponent was closing the distance.

"Need to… summon…" the girl spoke some coherent words and took the gun out of her holster. "Just like…" One would have expected the girl to point the barrel in the direction of the monster. However, instead held the gun to the side of her head, seemingly wanting to commit suicide. "The game…"

Almost lazily the girl pulled the trigger, and a gunshot rang through the air. Strangely enough, instead of the sound of brain matter splashing onto the ground following the tiny explosion, glass shattering could be heard through this part of the city. The girl's head flew backward, but not because she had put a hole in it, rather it was like a strong gust of wind had hit her. Blue and white colored, ghostly glass shards flew out of her head. Her body was surrounded by a blue mist, and a humanoid figure appeared behind the girl.

"I art thou," the figure intoned "and thou art I. My other self, let us go on this journey together. Let us sing our song and bring happiness to those that are lost. Let us dance on the corpses of our enemies and let the witness our victory. I am Eurydice! Memento vivere."

A loud crash could be heard throughout the streets, and the monster disappeared in a black mist, which flew away in random directions. There was a small crater as to where the monster used to be. The girl in the meantime had caught herself and was looking back at the floating figure behind her.

"Eurydice?" she asked, her expression finally showing some emotions.

"Hey! Are you alright?!"

Akihiko had started running as soon as he got word from Mitsuru that she not only had detected a shadow outside of Tartarus but that there was also a human in close proximity to it. Time was of essence and while he wouldn't have a problem using Mitsuru's bike, today just happened to be the day it was due to an inspection.

Cursing his luck, Akihiko ran through the city as fast as his legs could carry him. Mitsuru used her persona's unique ability to give the high schooler directions. He didn't bother dodging all of the blood puddles, as every drop that didn't come out of someone's body would turn back into water anyway, once the Dark Hour was over. Of course, bloodstained clothing was the least of his worries right now.

"Akihiko!" he heard Mitsuru's voice inside his head. And yes, it had taken some time getting used to that. "The person and the shadow have crossed paths. You need to hurry!"

"Damn it!" Akihiko cursed and forced his legs to go even faster. "Mitsuru, how far am I off?" he asked while dodging coffins left and right.

"Take the next turn right and then left. Then you should see them."

"Roger that!" he shouted.

Luckily Akihiko had a habit of training every single day, so it only took him around a minute to get to the location of his targets. As it turned out, he was just in time too.

He completely halted in his movements and stared at the scenery in front of him. When Mitsuru detected a human and a shadow so close together, he expected to save a civilian from getting preyed on by the shadow. What he didn't expect was a girl wearing a Gekkoukan uniform, equipped with an evoker of all things and wearing a SEES club armband to take on the shadow! Before his brain could even start the processing process, the girl was already holding the evoker against her head and "fired."

"Whoa!" he exclaimed in shock when a persona appeared behind the girl. The persona had a close resemblance to a female human. She had a supermodel body, long brown hair with tree leaves (he didn't know which kind) sporadically growing out of them. Her "clothing" consisted of a corset made out of tree bark. He also noticed a snake biting the left leg of the woman. Plus for some reason, this persona was talking. The meaning of the words was lost to him, though.

If it had been any other situation, he probably would have blushed. But he was or at least considered himself a professional. As such, he could easily forgo human beauty and catch himself. So the girl over there was a persona user and currently fighting a shadow. A weak one mind you, but Akihiko didn't know what the girl was capable of, as such he got ready to summon his own persona. An unnecessary precaution as it turned out, because the snake thing biting the persona's leg, let go of said leg, picked up the shadow in its mouth and slammed the damn thing onto the ground. There was now a small hole in the said road.

The shadow died in an instant and Akihiko couldn't help but whistle at the display. He saw the girl turning around and looking at her persona. The hobby boxer decided this was a good of a time as any other to make his presence known.

"Hey, are you alright?!" he shouted and ran directly up to the girl.

Eurydice, as the persona had called herself, disappeared, leaving the unknown Gekkoukan student alone. Said student, of course, turned around again and looked directly at Akihiko. There were a lot of questions already going through the older teenagers head, but he knew he had to check on the girl's health first.

"Hey, you okay?" he repeated his question, only to get a confused look as an answer.

"Huh…? Wha…" the girl trailed off, her eyes looking at something behind Akihiko. He turned around and found a melee weapon lying on the ground. He didn't know the name of the weapon but figured it must belong to the girl.

"Is that thing- oh shit, you're bleeding!" How he overlooked the bleeding leg all this time, he didn't know. But instincts kicked in, and he immediately went on to inspect the injury.

"Huh…? Wha…?" the girl repeated, seemingly unable to form a complete sentence or word for that matter. To the boxer's relief, the wound was nothing more than a scratch. The girl must have gotten lucky, as usual, even the weakest shadows were dangerous for people who didn't wear any kind of armor.

"It's just a surface wound. But let me take care of it anyway." Without overthinking about it, he brought his evoker to his forehead and summoned Polydeuces. Why his persona looked like a walking refrigerator with a needle as an arm and blonde hair, he didn't know, nor did he ever question it.

"Huh?!" The girl stumbled backwards when all of a sudden the persona appeared in front of her. "What is-?! Whaaa….?" Using his magic, Polydeuces cast a Dia, a minor healing spell. It was convenient to have. Akihiko could see how the wounds on the legs closed themselves, only leaving some dried up blood behind.

"There," he stood up and dismissed his persona. The girl didn't stop looking where Polydeuces used to be, however. She stared into the night sky with her mouth agape. It was kind of funny watching her like this, but once again, Akihiko considered himself a professional.

"Hey," he lightly tapped on the girl's shoulder, trying to get her attention. It didn't have the expected result. Out of nowhere, the girl lost her footing and fell over. If the other Gekkoukan student hadn't been there, she probably would have hit the ground. But as things were, Akihiko managed to catch her in his arms, before that happened.

"Well, this night just got interesting," the boxer said to himself, as he adjusted the girl in his arms. "Mitsuru, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear. What is your status?" he heard Mitsuru's voice inside his head.

"Everything is fine. The shadow is dead, but I wasn't the one who offed it."

"You weren't?" the girl on the other end of the line asked.

The silver-haired boy chuckled. "Nope. It looks like we got a new recruit on our hands."

"Say what?!"

He chuckled again. "Yup summoned her persona right in front of me. But there are a few weird things here."

"Weird things? Could you elaborate?"

"I'll tell you later," he said and picked up the melee weapon. "I think it's better to show you, rather than tell. Also, prepare to call an ambulance. The girl lost consciousness after beating that shadow."


	2. Chapter 2

Inside a blue room sat a man with a very long nose, a half-bald head and wearing a black suit. He was hunched over a table, his elbows being placed on the said table and his fingers crossed. The man grinned his trademark grin, as he saw the newest guest arriving at the Velvet Room. She wore a black school uniform of sorts, had her hair tied up into a ponytail, with hairclips forming the Roman numeral XXII. She was also currently fast asleep, sitting upright in the luxurious chair provided by her from the room.

Speaking of the Velvet Room, the man used the opportunity of where his guest was still asleep to take a look around. It was always intriguing to greet new guests because the room always shaped itself after the guest's o psyche. This time the room had taken the shape of a dressing room for a TV or movie-star. There was a mirror with multiple light bulbs on each side, along with various makeup tools placed in front of it. Next to it was a sink with numerous hair-cutting tools. In the left corner was a small dressing area, complete with mannequins from which hung a multitude of blue dresses. And finally in the right corner was a couch, seemingly for relaxing purposes.

His assistant for this particular guest was Beatrix. Her blonde hair was so long it almost reached her waist. She wore a blue dress with golden butterflies seemingly flying from the bottom to the top. Additionally, Beatrix had long blue fingernails and wore blue lipstick and a golden butterfly mask with her eyes being visible. She held the persona compendium in a similar matter to Elizabeth and Theodore, but she stood in a more relaxed fashion. She was currently watching the sleeping form of their guest, giggling at the fact that there was a bit of drool leaking out of the poor girl's mouth.

The old man decided not to chide Beatrix this time, as his mind was currently focused on the guest in front of him. Over the years he had had a multitude of different guests welcomed inside his domain. He still could remember them all very clearly. However, this one stood out among the others for a particular reason.

His attention was brought back to "reality" when the girl let out a small moan and finally woke up. Her eyes were unfocused, bloodshot and the eyelids never reached their full height. She was looking around the room like a drunk, her body wobbling ever so slightly. The old man allowed his guest some time to fully come to her senses, though technically speaking that never happened on this particular day. Her gaze eventually landed on the old man, though whether she was actually focusing or not was up to anyone's guess since she looked like she would fall asleep any second now. Nevertheless, the old man had a duty to fulfill, and he would start now.

"Welcome, to the Velvet Room," the old man greeted his guest, to which said guest tilted her head in confusion. "It seems we have a guest. And what a special guest we have. My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance." Of course, the introduction, in this case, was unnecessary, but Igor said his name out of politeness. "This room exists between dream and reality. Mind and matter." Again an unnecessary explanation, but even the master of the Velvet Room was not above the force of habit.

"Am I… dreaming?" the guest asked. Igor knew that under normal circumstances, his guest would have a very different reaction. However, currently, his guest's mind was only working on a subconscious level, which generally eased the spirit of the guests when they would visit the room on their own effort later on.

"In a manner of speaking," Igor answered the question. "You're fast asleep in the "real world," whereas your mind is temporarily displaced in this very room."

The girl nodded, seemingly understanding. But again, it was only her subconsciousness that understood the situation at hand. Her consciousness was almost non-existent at this point due to a multitude of reasons.

"I have summoned you here to discuss the contract you have signed." Igor waved with his hand, and a piece of paper appeared on the table in front of the girl. Said girl leaned forward and read to the contents of the contract out loud.

"I will take responsibility for all of my actions. Signed: Minako Arisato." The girl looked up, blinking in confusion. "Minako… Arisato…" she repeated slowly. "That's… my name?" she asked, however, Igor was unable to provide her with an answer at this point in time. "It feels… strange…" she added.

"If I may have your attention, I would like to introduce you to my assistant, Beatrix," the old man motioned over to the beautiful, golden-eyed woman standing right next to him.

"A pleasure to meet you, darling. I look forward to working with you," Beatrix said with a bright smile.

"Likewise…" came the slow response from "Minako."

"Now then, in regards to your contract, in exchange for our services we wish of you to abide by the contents of the contract by the letter," Igor explained. Most people would be confused by this, seeing as the contract only held one sentence. And this sentence could be interpreted in a multitude of ways. However, Minako's subconsciousness understood the graveness of those words and nodded.

"I understand," she said in an almost mechanical fashion.

"Splendid," Igor said with glee. "You are of course more than aware of the services we provide. After all, this wouldn't exactly be the first time "you" are using them, correct?" the old man chuckled.

"But is knowledge alone enough to find the answer you're seeking?" Beatrix spoke up. "I wonder."

"Hmm, it seems your mind still tires from your first ordeal," Igor observed. "I shouldn't keep you here any longer. It may be best that next time you come here on your own accord."

In a flash of blue light, the Velvet Key appeared in the middle of the room. It gently floated over to Minako, until it landed in her palm.

"Until we meet again."

* * *

 **03/23 Monday Late Night**

Inside one of Port Islands hospitals, a patient stirred inside her bed. No doubt it was the strong smell of disinfectants that finally woke her up because the first thing she did after rubbing the sleep off her eyes was letting out a big sneeze.

"Achoo!" The girl shot upwards, only to slam with the back of her head against the pillow again. She groaned groggily, her gaze wandering around the dark room. Not that she could see much.

"What time is it?" the girl asked aloud and tilted her head to the right, in order to look at her digital alarm clock. The only problem was that there was no digital alarm clock or any clock for that matter. The nightstand also seemed very unfamiliar, as the girl was pretty sure her nightstand was made out of dark wood and not white plastic.

"What the hell?!" the girl exclaimed, this time shooting upwards on purpose. The covers fell from her body, revealing that she was still wearing the self-made school uniform from the other day. She was even still wearing the shoes for some reason. It may be dark, but even she could see that the bedsheets were completely white.

"Where the hell am I?" the girl asked, barely keeping herself from shrieking out loud. Having watched too many movies, multiple scenarios immediately went through her head: kidnapping, drugs, amnesia due to head wound (that one was quickly disproven by the fact her head was not bandaged).

Scared and slightly disoriented, the girl got off the bed and carefully maneuvered her way towards a wall, where she could see a tiny light illuminating something white. She accidentally hit something with her knee, causing the brunette to hiss in pain and rub the offending limb a little. After a short pause, she quickly closed the distance between herself and the mini light. It turned out that the mini light was illuminating a light switch and after pressing it the red-eyed girl knew immediately where she was. Blue floor, white walls, multiple beds all covered in white sheets, the smell of disinfectants, a large window…

"A hospital?!" she exclaimed. "What in the name of the almighty fuckening am I doing in a hospital?" she asked aloud and looked down on herself, checking if she had any injuries. She silently noted that she was still wearing her female protagonist cosplay outfit. After not finding any visible wounds, the cosplayer came to the conclusion that she simply drank too much on the party inside the bar and ended up drunk and hospitalized. While this may seem a little bit of a farfetched theory at first, it indeed wouldn't be the first time this has happened to her. Or even the fifth. She was a lightweight.

"Oh man, mom and dad are going to be furious," the girl lamented. "Oh well, better get a nurse and tell them that I am awake. Strange, no headache hangover."

The cosplayer exited the room and found herself in an empty hallway. There were two ways for her to go. The left path led to a set of double doors with a sign of a stairway hanging next to it. The right path would lead to a corner and presumably to another hallway. Having decided on her way, the patient took a look at her room number in case she needed it and memorized it. Afterward, she walked to the stairs with the reception as her final destination in mind.

The smell of disinfectants wasn't as present in the stairway as it had been in the hall. It actually smelled a little bit like potatoes. The girl raised an eyebrow at this and wondered why it smelled like this when her answer became prevalent on the first floor. The hospital cantina was nearby, although at this point in time it was closed. However, the cosplayer still stuck around, for she noticed something odd. Namely, the signs were all the dishes were listed on were all written in Japanese. And the only reason she didn't mistake the kanjis for Chinese letters was because she could see the yen symbol right next to the price numbers.

The girl rubbed her eyes, trying to see if she wasn't still half-asleep or something, but no: the letters wouldn't change. The thought of being affected by some kind of hallucinogen crossed her mind, but that idea was quickly dismissed by being ridiculous alone. Confused the cosplayer continued on her way to the reception, which was pretty easy to find in the first place. She could see that it was pretty dark outside and aside from a receptionist working on some papers or other, nobody was there.

The receptionist was an Asian woman, wearing square glasses and having her hair tied up into a short tail. As the girl in the uniform stepped closer, she noticed that all of the papers on the desk were written in Japanese. An uncomfortable feeling built up in the girl's stomach, plus she was starting to feel pretty anxious about the entire situation. Internally hoping that the woman could speak English, the cosplayer spoke up.

"Um, excuse me, ma'am?"

The woman behind the counter immediately looked up, seemingly surprised to see someone standing in front of her.

"May I help you?" the woman with the glasses asked.

"Uh… I hope?" the teenager scratched the back of her head, almost accidentally undoing her ponytail. She didn't even notice the doctors had not taken out her hair clips. "You see, I kinda woke up in one of your rooms and excuse my language, but I have no fucking idea where the hell I am," she explained calmly. "This looks like a hospital, so…"

"This is a hospital," the woman confirmed. "And you say you just woke up inside one of our rooms and have no idea how you got here?" the woman repeated, doubt being present in her voice.

"Yes?"

The clerk woman raised an eyebrow, but nevertheless, she started moving her mouse swiftly, practically hammering with her finger on the white plastic of the computer tool. The girl in the meantime fidgeted with her fingers nervously and looked around some more. There were some potted plants, a few benches, a vending machine with Chinese or maybe Korean letters on it. That actually gave the cosplayer a pause, as she was wondering just why there weren't any English words on that thing. The woman was perfectly speaking English, and besides, it would be pretty nuts for her to wake up in another country suddenly. Not to mention impossible.

Shaking that random thought out of her head, the girl let her gaze wander once more until it fell onto a clock. From the position of the pointers, she could see that it was close to midnight. Once again the girl began to worry about how her parents would react once they found out about her ending up inside a hospital. Plus she still didn't know the reason as to why she ended up in the hospital. Was it an accident? Alcohol? Drugs? All of this had happened before after all.

"Ah, here we go," the voice of the clerk woman brought the cosplayer back to reality. "Someone messed with the hotkeys again," the woman grumbled. "Room 205, the second bed. Minako Arisato, correct?"

The cosplayer had to blink. And blink. And blink again. "Excuse me?" she asked, being sure she just misheard the woman.

"Minako Arisato, that's your name correct?" the woman asked, assuming the patient hadn't understood her correctly.

"Minako" blinked a fourth time. "Uh… I think you're mistaken, ma'am. That's… not my name." Inside her mind, the brunette wondered if she hadn't accidentally introduced herself as such when she had been under the influence of alcohol. Of course, at this point, she wasn't sure whether she got to the hospital due to excessive alcohol consummation, but the possibility was there.

"Well, what is your name in that case?" the woman asked, clearly becoming impatient already.

"My name is… I am…" Blank. The cosplayer was drawing a blank. It was like when you studied for an upcoming test the entire month, and all of a sudden you can't even remember the easiest answers, like your mind had been wiped clean.

"My name is…" she tried again but got nothing. Her mind came up with nothing. Well, that was not entirely true. Her brain did provide some names, but none of them were correct. How could they? Those were all names of fictional characters that she had cosplayed as at some point in her life. A few random names from friends also came to mind, but not her own.

"Hey, are you still there?" the woman asked, getting annoyed with the teenager. And for some reason, the girl didn't react to the secretary, not even when she started snipping her fingers. The cosplayer seemingly just stared into empty space.

"Hey!" the woman shouted, causing the patient to flinch and look in the direction of the woman.

"Huh… what?"

If it hadn't been so late, the secretary might have considered the distressed state the patient was in. But given that she and pretty much everyone else inside the hospital was overworked, she immediately moved on to giving the girl a mouthful. At least she would have under normal circumstances. The problem here was that the clock struck twelve.

* * *

 **03/23 Monday Dark Hour**

"Wha….? What the…? WHAT THE FUCK?! WHAT THE ACTUAL FLYING FUCK?!"

To say that "Minako" had a panic attack would be the understatement of the century. And who could blame her? After all, out of nowhere the lights inside the hospital went out, the woman in front of her disappeared and in her stead stood a coffin and the water inside the water bottle on the table, presumably belonging to the same woman, turned into blood.

A part of the girl might have already realized at this point what was going on. After all, she figuratively played Persona 3 to death and knew everything there was to know about the Dark Hour. However, this small part of her mind was quickly overshadowed by the more significant part being in full panic mode. She had already been tense after waking up in the hospital, albeit she managed not to show it outright. But now after seeing a supernatural phenomenon going off in real life, the floodgates had been opened.

From an outsiders perspective, it might have actually looked funny how the girl in a cartoonish fashion ran here and there, stared at the coffin, stared out of the window, ran around the lobby which eventually resulted in the girl merely curling up on the ground and putting her thumb into her mouth. Naturally, this wasn't a fun situation. The cosplayer was overwhelmed in more ways than one about the sudden shift in atmosphere. Not only did the scenery around her change into something out of a (cheap) horror movie, but her senses were assaulted in other ways as well. In later times, the girl would describe the effect of the Dark Hour as an oppressing presence. It was like her entire body had been wrapped up in something dark and hard. It was like a weight capable of pressuring her on every square inch of her skin. Then there was another thing giving the cosplayer the creeps.

Inside her mind, it felt like there was someone there. It is somewhat hard to describe for someone who has not experienced this, but for her it felt like someone else was inside her brain, watching. If "Minako" had been more aware, she might have speculated this was what it felt like to have a second personality inside her mind.

But as things stood, the poor teenager was reduced to a vegetable state, cowering and whimpering until finally helped arrived in the form of her future teammate.

* * *

Mitsuru Kirijo figured it was fortunate her busy schedule forced her to stay in town until after the Dark Hour began. It was also lucky that she was relatively close to the hospital where the Arisato girl was currently staying or else she wouldn't have been there to find the girl panicking. Originally the Kirijo heiress simply planned on moving past the building, since it was placed on the shortest way back to the dorm. It was a stroke of luck that her gaze wandered inside the building or else she would have been able to see the poor girl sitting on the floor in front of the reception.

Acting quickly, Mitsuru looked for a way inside, but since it had been the Dark Hour the electronic doors didn't work. Cursing quietly, the girl drew her evoker and summoned her persona, which fired multiple ice shards against the glass doors, causing the said glass to break. Arisato didn't react to either the persona summoning or the glass being shattered.

"Arisato!" Mitsuru shouted, as she carefully made her way inside the hospital. Some of her hair got tangled up on some shards still being attached to the frames of the door. The heiress hoped this would be later shrugged off as the works of hooligans.

"Arisato!" the redhead shouted again. After making her way through what remained of the doors, she ran straight up to the other persona user and crouched down.

"Arisato, can you hear me? Is something wrong?" The Kirijo heiress didn't receive an answer. The brunette just kept sucking on her thumb like she was a baby while letting out the occasional whimper. Mitsuru tried another approach and lightly tapped the younger girl on the arm. This proved to be a more successful method of getting her attention than the previous one. The brunette stopped whimpering and looked at the older girl for a total of three seconds. Mitsuru was about to speak up again, but only let out a gasp of surprise. Like a python, Minako had wrapped her arms around Mitsuru and hugged her tightly. The brunette also buried her face into the other girl's chest and started crying. The heiress could feel her blouse getting slowly but surely soaked.

Speaking of the heiress, she remained shocked in crouch position for a few moments, before catching herself. "Arisato? Arisato can you hear me?" Once again Minako didn't answer. Even after repeatedly being called out, the cosplayer simply continued crying into Mitsuru's chest, thus leaving the redhead in an awkward position. She knew the two couldn't possibly stay that way and she also knew that she couldn't leave the brunette alone. To Mitsuru, it was apparent that Minako was suffering from the symptoms of first awakening to the Dark Hour. Akihiko had described something similar happening to the girl the previous night. While Mitsuru would love nothing more than to question the girl about where she got her entire equipment from, she knew that this wasn't the time and place for this.

Coming up with a short-term plan, Mitsuru got back up from the ground. Slightly surprising the older girl, the younger one followed her movements and kept on clinging to the redhead.

"I-I-" The still flustered Mitsuru cleared her throat in order to get the stuttering under control. "I will bring you to my dorm for the time being. Is that acceptable?" Minako didn't answer. She simply kept on clinging to the heiress.

Seeing as there wasn't much she could do, Mitsuru carefully maneuvered the younger girl out of the hospital. No doubt this would lead to issues the following day what with a patient disappearing just like that, but that had to wait until tomorrow. The clothes both girls were wearing by some of the shards remaining attached to the frame of the doors, but luckily none of them got hurt.

The way to the Iwatodai Dorm went without any incident. The entire time the girl kept on clinging to Mitsuru like she was some kind of oversized teddy bear or something. The heiress was glad that everyone else was inside their coffins during the Dark Hour. Naturally, thanks to the position the two were in it took them quite some time to arrive at their destination. By the time they did, the hidden 25th hour was almost over.

"We're here," Mitsuru announced as they stood in front of the door. There was still no real reaction from Minako, which was testing the heiress' patience ever so slightly. Nevertheless, the redhead took a keychain out of her pockets, selected the right key and opened the door. Both girls entered the dorm lobby, and Mitsuru closed the door after they were both in.

Nobody else appeared to be awake. The heiress knew that the chairman was at home at this time of the day and chances were high Takeba and Akihiko were fast asleep in their respective rooms. And the brunette girl was still attached to Mitsuru. The redhead at this point had figured out she probably needed to say something that would soothe the younger one's emotions in order to make her stop clinging to the heiress. The problem here was that Mitsuru had no idea how to do that.

Her interactions with other people of her age had always been kept to a minimum. Thus she had no idea how to help a distressed person. She would have to improvise.

Mitsuru walked to one of the couches, with Minako naturally and both sat down. The redhead bit her lip, trying to figure out what she was supposed to say to the brunette. Luckily for her, it turned out she didn't need to come up with anything. The heiress almost let out a sigh of relief, when she felt the tight grip of the brunette loosening. At the same time, a pair of red eyes that didn't belong to Mitsuru looked directly at Mitsuru's own. It was hard to tell with the lighting, but the heiress thought she saw the eyes of the new girl being bloodshot.

Like a curious child, Minako looked around the room for a few seconds before her gaze once again fell on Mitsuru. Her mouth was ever so slightly open as she stared at the older girl.

"Are you all right?" Mitsuru asked with genuine concern. She might be called an ice queen by many and for a good reason, but that didn't mean she felt not empathy at all. The redhead figured the brunette was still confused and most likely scared.

"…You're pretty," the younger one said out of nowhere, taking Mitsuru ever so slightly off guard.

"…Thank you," the redhead replied after a moment, suppressing a blush. "It looks like you have calmed down considerably. Are you feeling all right?" the older girl asked again.

"So pretty," the other girl repeated and started going through Mitsuru's hair with her hand as if she was a pet of some sorts. "I wish I was this pretty."

Mitsuru moved her head away from the hand, but to her dismay, the hand followed her. From the looks of things, the younger girl was far away from recovering from her Dark Hour symptoms.


	3. Chapter 3

**03/24 Tuesday Early Morning**

 _I. Feel. Like. Shit._

Those were the first thoughts that came to Minako's mind when she woke up. Her entire body felt stiff like a plank of wood, and something uncomfortable was pressing against her head. That something quickly turned out to be her own hairdo. The girl was lying on her ponytail, which in return was pressing against the back of her head. Groaning in annoyance, the girl raised her upper body, silently wondering why she didn't remove any of her hairclips or at least the bun last night. She was also wondering why the hotel bed felt so uncomfortable, but that question was answered by looking around the room she was in. For Minako was in fact not inside her hotel room, she was what appeared to be a living room.

She was lying on a couch with a blanket covering her legs and a pillow having been placed on the edge of said couch. There was another couch set on the opposite side, against a light brown wall, and sofas had been put to the left and right of the girl. A table was in the middle of it all. The ground was covered in a green carpet with the occasional white and yellow square here and there. The ceiling was green too, with white patterns distributed across it. There was a chandelier hanging over the table. It looked old like it was made in the fifties or something. The same could be said for the lamp, standing right next to the couch on the opposite side.

And then there was the TV. While not as old as the light sources, it was pretty small and had an old school design. For some reason, there was a thin wooden wall behind it, barely double the height of the electronic device. The wall was nothing more than a corner, with the upper half being made of glass. Had someone made this to protect the TV from people accidentally slamming against it?

As impressive as the room was, there was an actual bar on the other end, the girl had to figure out where she was and why she was here. Not to mention, it would be best to figure out how she got into the building in the first place. So far, all signs pointed to her getting drunk once again and being taken in by some strangers for the night.

The girl hung her head low in despair, already hearing her parents tirade that was sure to come. Ignoring those evil thoughts, for now, the girl thought back to last night, hoping she could at the very least remember something. And remember she did. It all came crashing upon her, like an avalanche straight from Mount Everest: the hospital, the Japanese letters, talking to the receptionist, everything turning green, a coffin in place of the receptionist, blood, panic, yellow moon, a red-haired girl, a dorm, **the Dark Hour.**

Being stunned to silence wasn't a feeling Minako was all too familiar with. Oh, she had heard the expression and watched many fictional characters go through the motion on TV. It usually was pretty funny to watch. But this was the first time it was happening to her, and she didn't feel particularly amused. There was no warning. Suddenly everything came back to her at once. Not only that, but her mind quickly connected the dots and came to a ludicrous conclusion. She denied it. Or at least she tried to deny what her brain was telling her. There was no way it could be true, right? Stuff like this only happened of fanfiction and maybe the occasional movie or cartoon. She had to be on drugs, no doubt. Clearly, she had drunk way more than she usually did, and this was the result of that. Who knows, maybe in her drunken state she had accidentally bumped into some shady person who had given her stuff that hit harder than a martini?

Minako nodded to herself. That had to be it. She got knocked up good, and now her brain had trouble separating reality from fiction. If only it had been so easy.

There was this nagging feeling in the back of Minako's mind. She usually had that feeling, when she forgot something important, like an upcoming test, for example. It always showed itself with her chest tightening a bit. It was the way her subconsciousness told her she was ignoring something important.

Minako shook her head, trying to get rid of that feeling. "Nu-uh. No way. Shut up, brain. You don't know what you're talking about," she said to herself, even going as far as to slap her cheek. It burned a little bit.

"Come on, no way this actually happened. Here, I show you. I'll just take out my- where the fuck is my phone?"

The girl had grabbed into her pocket in an effort to retrieve her phone, but couldn't find it there. In fact, she couldn't find any of her personal belongings on herself. Her wallet, that keychain she bought and her spare hairband were missing. That's not to mention her fake naginata and soft-air pistol.

"Silly, me. Whoever took me in probably took my stuff so that it wouldn't get lost. I hope they didn't call the police. Ngh, maybe next time I go for a character without any weapons."

Minako had seen stories on the internet about cosplayers who got arrested for carrying fake weapons with them. The last thing she wanted to do was for whoever took her in call the local law enforcement. Her parents would never let her hear the end of it if that ever happened. Making up her mind, the cosplayer threw off her blankets and got off the couch. She ignored the eerily familiar interior of the house and instead focused on finding someone in here, preferably before she could hear the sounds of sirens in the distance.

She found it remarkably easy to navigate through the house. Walking past a table where at least ten or so people could sit, Minako found herself inside a kitchen. There wasn't anything remarkable about it, aside from a sheet of paper hanging on the fridge. It appeared to be a list of some sort, but that was all the girl could make out from it. It had two columns, one with Japanese text written via a PC and the other having Japanese text written with a roller pen. Presumably whoever lived here had used the one on top of the fridge.

Ignoring the sinking feeling inside her gut, Minako exited the place, closing the door behind her. She took in a deep breath and exhaled the air slowly.

"This doesn't mean anything. Maybe there lives a Japanese family here. I should try the staircase."

It was almost painful to watch how Minako ignored the undeniable signs, as she traversed through the complex. Passing the bar, she found a staircase leading upwards. Following said staircase, she found a single hallway leading down with multiple doors on each side. There was a small setup of couches and pillows in the corner, along with two vending machines.

"Just coincidence, just coincidence…"

The third floor looked roughly the same. Minako noted that the pillows had a different color and the vending machines offered more than three options, unlike in the-

Minako slapped herself again. Harder than the last time, but not hard enough to leave a mark. Not yet, at least. It simply couldn't be possible. As much as this appeared to be real, this could be nothing more than a drug-induced dream or hallucination or something! Anything!

The girl gritted her teeth, muttering something that was even incomprehensible to her. She glared at the ground, ignoring the fact that the carpet looked so much like the one in that specific thing. Although this one was obviously more detailed, what with her being able to make out all of the tiny little hairs and that one spot that looked like someone had spilled soda over there and only done a subpar job on removing it.

The cosplayer wanted to slap herself again. This time she would make sure it got her brain shaking, so it would stop bombarding her with all of those thoughts. Luckily for her brain, at this point, someone decided to open their door. It creaked a little bit. Minako quickly turned her head and saw that a woman, no, a mature looking teenager stepped out of the room. She had deep red hair, skin that looked like it could use some time in the sun, and lipstick that was of the same color as her hair. Her clothing consisted of a white blouse, black pants, and high heels.

Minako also experienced something that could only be described as a piercing glare, causing her to stiffen up, like a soldier getting yelled at by a drill sergeant. The red contacts the other girl was wearing only added to the effect.

"Ah, you're awake," the girl stated in a mature tone. Maybe she was an adult? Minako wasn't so sure anymore. She briefly remembered that the redhead brought her to this place during the Dark… last night.

The redhead had her arms crossed as she approached the cosplayer with sure and steady steps. She had this kind of no-nonsense aura around her. And was it just Minako or did it suddenly become cooler?

"Are you feeling well?" the redhead asked, never breaking eye contact with the brunette.

"Eh… yeah…" the cosplayer squirmed just a little bit under the gaze. "I… you brought me here last night, right?" The image of Minako snuggling with the other girl came into the cosplayer's mind. "Uh, sorry if I have done anything weird last night. My friends always tell me that I get weird when I'm on alcohol."

The mature teenager raised an eyebrow. "You drunk last night?" she asked in an accusing tone, causing the other girl to flinch.

"Hehe… yeah, I know. Age regulations and all that crap. You'd be surprised how many people straight up don't care if they serve an underage girl."

"Unbelievable," the redhead shook her head, holding her forehead. "At least now you seem to be sober enough to hold a conversation."

Minako tapped her fingers against each other, looking sheepish. "Ehehe, yeah. I guess."

The mature redhead glared at the younger girl for a couple of seconds, before merely stating: "Follow me." Without any explanation, the redhead began her descent towards the lower floors. Obediently Minako followed the older girl or maybe mature woman, ignoring the nostalgic feeling she was getting from just seeing her. The said redhead was quick on her feet, and the cosplayer had to speed it up, to keep up.

As it turned out, their destination was the kitchen. The redhead gestured the younger girl to take a seat, which she complied with swiftly. The older girl then proceeded to set up the coffee machine. Minako watched as the other girl opened a couple of cupboards, put coffee and water into the machine and turned it on. Having done that, the older girl turned around and looked down on the younger one.

"My name is Kirijo, Mitsuru."

"K-Kirijo?!" Minako couldn't help but exclaim. Now, this was a name she recognized, and suddenly she realized why she felt so nostalgic when seeing the redhead. She looked like a real-life version of Mitsuru Kirijo from Persona 3! Not only that but from what little Minako had seen, she even behaved like Mitsuru from the game! Was she a fellow cosplayer? Or another result of the drugs?

Mitsuru, in the meantime, continued as if nothing had happened. "Two days ago, you were found alone at night on the streets."

"Wait. What?! Two days ago?! Are you kidding me?!" Not waiting for an answer, the cosplayer looked to the side. "What the hell have I been smoking? Oh, mom and dad are gonna put me under house arrest until I'm 60." Groaning in despair, the brunette slammed her head on the table. "I'm done for."

Mitsuru didn't comment on the behavior of the other girl. She briefly glanced over to the coffee machine, which was still running.

"Yesterday night, you were found in the hospital lobby, collapsed. Do you remember that?" the redhead asked.

Minako looked up from the table. "Uh… not really? I remember someone carrying me somewhere, though. Was that you, by any chance?"

Mitsuru nodded. "Indeed. It appeared you were a bit, how should I put it? Disoriented."

"Ugh." The brunette slammed her forehead on the table once again. "That's it. No more tequila for me. I switch over to coffee."

"Hmph." The girl's behavior almost amused Mitsuru, but the heiress kept her stoic expression. "While your choices of free time activity are somewhat questionable, I'm afraid they're not the main issue here. For you see, when you were found, you were carrying weapons with you."

"They aren't real!" Minako immediately exclaimed, her body shooting up from the table. Mitsuru found herself ever so slightly startled by the behavior of the girl. "L-look! I'm a cosplayer! Uh, so, I dress up as characters from movies, comics and so on! There was an event going on were cosplayers like me gathered. Part of my cosplay was carrying a naginata and a gun. But they're both fake, I swear! The gun is just a soft-air toy I repainted, and the naginata is just an old broomstick with some silver painted plastic acting as the blade!"

Minako took some deep breaths after her little rant. The fear of getting reported to the police was so great that she completely forgot to breathe for a couple of seconds. She even saw tiny, silver blinking dots filling her vision.

Mitsuru, in the meantime, was digesting the information she had received. She kept a neutral expression on her face, but inside the mind, she was less than convinced about the girl's story. The redhead knew what a cosplayer was, she overheard some classmates talking about it once, and while usually, this would be a somewhat reasonable excuse to carry fake weapons with you, there was a small problem with this story.

"So, you're a cosplayer, who is attending an event here in this city?" Mitsuru asked in a neutral tone.

"Y-yeah," Minako was still breathing heavily. "Sorry… if I… worried anyone. You know, with those things." She giggled nervously.

"I must admit, this is one of the more elaborate excuses I have heard."

Minako tensed up when Mitsuru came closer to her. The redhead put a hand on the table and looked now directly down on the brunette. The cosplayer found herself eerily reminded of an insect under a glass casing, pinned to the wooden board.

"There are just a few problems with your story. For starters, the blade of your weapon was very much so real."

"What?"

"And then there was your gun. While not a real gun in of itself, we found out that it had an awful lot of similarities with a certain piece of equipment that this school club uses."

"Huh?"

"Also, you were wearing an armband that only members of this school club receive upon entrance."

Minako became more and more confused by the second. The nagging feeling in the back of her head was growing more and more into a full-blown headache, but she kept ignoring it.

"I very much so suggest you start telling the truth from now on, for I am known to have very little patience with liars."

The cosplayer squirmed.

"Now then, how about we start from the very beginning. Who are you? How did you come into possession of these items? And what do you know about the Dark Hour?"

The brunette haired girl whimpered, while under the gaze of the redhead. What was going on? Was this girl acting according to her role as Mitsuru Kirijo? Would the redhead be bursting out laughing very soon?

But why did Minako felt so squeamish? Why did she feel like she would lose her life if she answered in an unsatisfying matter to the redhead? And why did Minako keep referring to herself as Minako? That wasn't her name. She had no Japanese heritage! And more importantly, her naginata had been fake! This had to be some kind of drug-induced, dream joke, right?

*cling*

Something metallic had fallen to the checkered kitchen ground. The sound had come from right beside Minako. Looking down, being thankful for the distraction, she found a blue key lying on the ground. Bending down, the girl picked the key up and held it in front of her.

"A blue key?" Mitsuru asked, looking curiously at the object.

"The… Velvet Key?" Why did these words come to mind? Why was Minako so sure that this was, in fact, the famous Velvet Key? The movie had shown it to be a golden key, not a blue one! Why did her mind accept that this was… that **everything** was…

"Velvet Key?" Mitsuru repeated, putting the hand from the table under her chin. "It looks quite elegant." The Kirijo heiress then noticed the far off look Minako had gotten. The brunette was staring at the key, no longer shaking in fear of Mitsuru's presence. The coffee was finally finished, but the Kirijo girl ignored it, in favor of observing the girl. Mitsuru noticed that the brunette's body wasn't tense anymore. Instead, it was slumped back on the chair as if the girl was exhausted.

"Arisato?" For the first time today, Mitsuru used the last name she had gotten from the cosplayer the other night. Had she gone too far with her interrogation? Should she have been more lenient on her questioning?

Minako's far-end gaze wandered over to Mitsuru, who didn't show the discomfort she was getting from this action.

"My name is…" the girl spoke in an almost robotic, no, a defeated tone, as the Kirijo noticed. "My name is… Minako Arisato. I am a student… a cosplayer… and a persona user."

Igor, Beatrix, the contract, Eurydice. Had Kazuya felt this exhausted after summoning Vulcanus for the first time? Had Minato felt this defeated when he saw his parents getting murdered by Thanatos? Had Yu been this overwhelmed, when he first stumbled into the TV-World? Had Ren been this confused, when he woke up in his prison cell for the first time? Was it like this for every single Wild Card out there?

Mitsuru frowned, not sure what do with Arisato. From the looks of things, the girl wasn't as mentally stable as the heiress had first assumed. The redhead silently scolded herself. She should have first brought the girl back to the hospital, before interrogating her.

"Are you feeling unwell? Do you need something to drink?" the heiress asked. This seemed to snap Arisato out of her stupor. The brunette blinked a couple of times and looked at the blue key again for a moment. Silently she put the thing away into her pocket, before looking up at the heiress again.

"I guess it would be pointless to ask for Vodka?"

It was.

Not that Minako had been serious. Well, partially, she had been. She was mentally drained in more ways than one. Was this an alcoholic dream? Maybe, but from the looks of things, she had finally accepted that there was at least a pretty good chance that this was the real deal. But she couldn't be sure about that. Truth to be told she couldn't be sure about anything at the moment. In the end, she asked if she could have a cup of black coffee because her brain could really use the kick right now.

And kicking in it did. Minako wasn't a fan of black coffee, not by a long shot. However, she will gladly drink a cup when she needed her mind to be fully awake for a certain amount of time. Usually, when she was working on an all-night project or when she had trouble getting up in the morning. But this occasion seemed just as right.

"Do you want some milk or sugar?" Mitsuru must have seen the face Minako made, after taking a sip. Mitsuru Kirijo, in the flesh. Wow, if Minako's mind wouldn't have been so overwhelmed, she would have asked for the girl's autograph.

"No, thank you," the cosplayer replied politely. She was slightly surprised by how composed she was all of a sudden. Maybe it was because she was burned out? Or perhaps because she hadn't had anything to eat for at the very least 24 hours? Maybe a combination of the two reasons?

"If you say so." Mitsuru took a sip from her own coffee, watching the brunette for any more symptoms that were in any way related to mental instability. The redhead allowed Arisato to gather her thoughts for a couple of minutes. All the girl did during those minutes was to stare at the black abyss that was her coffee.

After a while, the younger girl took another sip, her face distorting into uncomfortable proportions. "Ugh. Whoever invented this stuff should be cursed and blessed at the same time."

Mitsuru took this as her cue to speak up. "Are you ready to answer my questions now?"

The brunette gazed up from her muck and looked at the other girl with uncertainty. Nevertheless, she gave Mitsuru a slow nod, saying: "I'll try…"

This seemed to satisfy the Kirijo heiress, and she resumed her questioning.

"Let's start from the beginning. Your name is Arisato Minako, correct?"

"That's… the thing…" Minako let out a tired sigh. It seemed today the coffee wasn't doing its job very well. "You see, I know that is not my name."

"It's not?" Mitsuru asked in surprise. The younger girl shook her head.

"It's not," she confirmed. "But, the thing is… when I try to remember my name… only those two words come to mind."

Mitsuru found herself a little confused at the statement. "Would you care to elaborate?"

Minako bit her lip and looked down on her mug. "It's like I said. I know for a fact that Minako Arisato is not my name. Yet, whenever I try to remember my name, the words Minako and Arisato appear in my mind. It's weird." The brunette shook her head again.

"Are you trying to take me for a fool?"

Suddenly, Minako glared directly at the other red-eyed girl, her own patience growing thin. "Do I look like I'm fucking with you?!" she shouted, causing the heiress to reel back ever so slightly. "Look, two days ago, I was on a happy trip with my best friend to a cosplay convention. Next thing I know, I wake up in a hospital, the receptionist turns into a coffin, there is SOMETHING inside my head that gets harder and harder to ignore by the minute! And best of all, I can't even remember my own fucking name, for fuck's sake!"

Minako was seething at this point. The stress was obviously getting to her.

"And what's this whole shit about my weapon being real?! Let me tell you one thing, I prepare my cosplay outfits all myself, including props! I made this naginata myself, and the blade is made of plastic! I'm not an idiot who carries a real weapon with me around in broad daylight!"

The cosplayer was gritting her teeth, her mug shaking in her hands. She had made up half her mind on throwing the cup with the hot liquid inside against the heiress' head. However, before she could go through with this, a new voice made itself known.

"Now, now, everyone. Let's all stay calm and keep our heads cool." It was a smooth, mature voice, belonging to a man who appeared to be used to talking to people of high society. Both girls turned their heads, and Minako was sure her heart froze for just a split second.

Brown suit, shoulder length brown hair, glasses… he may look like your average kiss-ass businessman, but Minako knew better than to underestimate Shuji Ikutsuki.

"Mr. Chairman!" Mitsuru spoke in surprise as the man casually strolled into the kitchen.

"Good morning, everyone. I must say, you two are quite loud so early in the morning," the man said with a smile. "Speaking of early, Mitsuru, while I appreciate your diligent nature, wouldn't you agree it is a little early to ask questions? Especially when none of you even had a proper breakfast."

Maybe the man was psychic, perhaps not, but at this very moment, Minako's stomach decided to make itself known in a very audible fashion. The girl's cheeks burned up. "I… just realized my last meal was two days ago. And it was a chocolate bar."

The chairman chuckled good-naturedly. "Oh my, we can't have that now, can we? I'm surprised you still have the strength to speak. I know I wouldn't be able to do much without my daily muffin."

The cosplayer snorted all of a sudden. There was no apparent reason why at least not until she began opening her mouth. "Two muffins were sitting in an oven. One said: 'It's pretty hot in here.' The other one shouted: 'Wow! A talking a muffin!'"

The chairman almost immediately burst into laughter from the sudden joke coming from the cosplayer. Mitsuru suppressed a groan, wondering why the girl had suddenly made such a bad pun.

"Oh my, I didn't know our guest had such a sense of humor!" the chairman said after calming down. "Now then, I suggest we first let our guest have something to eat before asking questions, wouldn't you agree Mitsuru? After all, you can be quite grumpy without some proper breakfast."

"W-what?!" the heiress flushed red, having been caught off guard. It was Minako's turn to laugh, although her episode only lasted two seconds before her stomach decided to become loud again. Very loud.

"I guess it's decided then," the chairman clapped his hands. "I hope you don't mind if I join in, Mitsuru. To be honest, I had a rather hectic morning what with everything going on."

"It's alright. But Mr. Chairman. Are you sure…?"

"Oh, you worry too much, my dear. I'm sure everything will be A-okay."

"If you say so…"

"Uh… excuse me?" Minako spoke up. "Do you mind if I use the bathroom?"

"I'll show you the way," Mitsuru said and immediately walked ahead. Minako looked after the redhead for a second, before quickly following the girl. Of course, the brunette already knew where to find the toilettes, but she wasn't about to say anything. Truth to be told, her reason for going there was twofold. One, she needed to go. And two, she needed at least a minute or two alone to organize her brain.


End file.
